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Alpha Course March 31, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Evangelism, Student Ownership.
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I am copied on an email newsletter sent by Urs Wolf, National Campus Director in Switzerland. Some time ago he sent one that read:

Here is an encouraging story from Renata Ramanauskaite from Lithuania. For years they were praying and dreaming that students would own the ministry. (italics mine) This year they are beginning to see glimpses of their dream! Students are owning the ministry! One of the ways they are doing it is by leading an Alpha course in their faculty. There are 3 Alpha course groups lead by Agape students. A student received Jesus in his heart. Read more

I have had friends participate in Alpha courses in their churches and they have seen God use them in the lives of believers and non-believers. But, typically, students are busy, so I wondered about their being able to lead this course. When Urs mentioned that students were leading Alpha, I wanted to look into it some more. I am always intrigued by anything that develops student ownership.

According to the Alpha Course website, “Over 11 million people worldwide have now attended an Alpha course, [It is] an opportunity to explore the meaning of life, running in tens of thousands of churches of all denominations, and at universities, in prisons and on military bases across the world.” If you look at the Alpha on Campus page, the content is the same as a regular Alpha course. Their sample schedule is as follows:

  • Introduction Dinner: Is there more to life than this?
  • Week 1: Who is Jesus?
  • Week 2: Why did Jesus die?
  • Week 3: How can we have faith?
  • Week 4: Why and how do I pray?
  • Week 5: Why and how should I read the Bible?
  • Week 6: How does God guide us?
  • Week 7: How can I resist evil?
  • Week 8: Why & how should we tell others?
  • Week 9: Does God heal today?
  • Week 10: What about the Church?

Alpha began in the 1970s at Holy Trinity Brompton in central London as a way to present the basic principles of the Christian faith to new believers in a relaxed and informal setting. When former barrister Nicky Gumbel took over the course in 1990, he adapted it to make it even more appealing to non-churchgoers. Since we have been discussing ways to help the non-Christian belong on the way to believing, this has great promise. Especially since Europe has seen success with the course.

It is a bit late to consider using it in this school year, but if you are interested in considering this for next year, this page offers hints, resources and how to register your own course. Maybe some of you have already led or participated in an Alpha course. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Social Graces March 24, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Evangelism, Personal Growth.
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The Scriptures talk about three kinds of witness.
1. The witness of our words.
2. The witness of our actions.
3. Our witness as the body of Christ.

Have you ever been in these situations?

  • You go out to eat with friends and one person is really rough with the server? It seems to go beyond the quality of the food. I have been embarrassed by the lack of respect that I have seen some Christians treat those who serve us.
  • You are riding with someone and they cut another off in traffic? Last week, someone followed me out of the church parking lot and I watched them lay on the horn toward another driver. It seemed unwarranted. Would they have been as aggressive if they weren’t so anonymous behind a wheel?
  • What about situations where you thought a simple “Thank you!”, “Please.” or “Excuse me.” would have been the obvious thing to say and it did not happen?

I often wonder where manners went, why we lack social graces in our dealings with others and why we neglect the little things that show respect for the other person. The little things, like a kindness, a smile and common courtesy make such a difference in whether a person enjoys being around us or would rather not. My wife always asks the person doing check out in the grocery store how his or her day is going. Chris says she wants to leave them more encouraged than drained from having spent that moment with her.

Now here is why I am talking about this. We will be more effective witnesses as we reflect Christ in how we treat others. So often people don’t regard our message about Christ because our lifestyle doesn’t match our words. Paul says to the Thessalonians in his first epistle to them. “You know how we lived among you for your sake.” (1:5b) Are we salt and light? Do they see something different in how we treat others?

But more than the witness of our words, our witness as the body of Christ is enhanced when the non-Christian comes into our fellowship. Do they see something different there? Jesus says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35. The body mode in our evangelism model is even more strategic today in light of the need for others to belong on the way to believing. With the breakdown of the family, we need to teach the social graces that used to be taught at home. We provide valuable interpersonal skills when we do.

I have been reading a devotional this year, Wisdom for the Way, about selected writings from Chuck Swindoll. In a selection entitled “Helping the World on to God”, Swindoll quotes Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Then Swindoll comments,”

“[The world] will see “your good works,” Jesus said. Like what?
They will hear your courtesy.
They will detect your smile.
They will notice that you stop to thank them.
They will hear you apologize when you are wrong.
They will see you help them when they are struggling.
They will notice that you are the one who stopped along the road and gave them a hand.
They will see every visible manifestation of Christ’s life being normally lived out through you. They will see all that and they “will glorify your Father who is in heaven”
We are the ones who help the world on to God.”

I am sure that there are many of you who have some simple messages that teach practical ways to respect others, describes common courtesy and social graces and, generally, explains what it means to be kind to others. Let’s help each other create ministries that are more inviting places for the non-Christian and, in so doing, our evangelism will be more effective.

Instilling Confidence March 17, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Coaching, Leadership.
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I did a Multiple Movements training with AIA last week. At one point, someone asked, “What if a person is not ready to lead?” My first response may have been a bit simplistic. “No one is ever ready to lead.”

True there are character issues and time constraints. But rarely does the person we ask to take on responsibility, think they are ready for that next step. In short, most lack confidence. They know you can do it; you are staff. But they often do not believe they can do it. The person we are working with is able to do something. It is up to the staff coach to figure out what that something is, equip them to do it and instill confidence that God will use them.

Tom, our youngest son is 16 and a sophomore in high school. I am still teaching him to drive. I can drive better than he can. That is not the point. I do model periodically, but the focus now is to get him behind the wheel and put him in various situations where he can gain experience. The more experience he has, the greater his confidence.

Tom runs track and cross country. His coach knows that he is built more for long distance than sprints and has trained him in those events. He would be foolish to enter Tom in the pole vault or shot put. Last week, he won the Freshman/Sophomore 1600 meter race (the mile run) with a personal best time of 4:58. Much of our encouragement leading up to the race was “You have it in you to run faster.” But I noticed that everyone on the track team participated in at least one event. The coach had to put thought into what every athlete would do.

As we give students opportunities to minister, we want to encourage them that God will use them. In Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians in the first chapter of his letter, he wants them to know the hope their calling, the riches of their inheritance and God’s power toward them. Let them know that what they are doing has eternal consequences. God cares more about them and what they do than anyone else ever will. They do what they do with an audience of One. God hears their prayers and He will honor their efforts. Not everything will turn out the way we expect, but God is the one at work in and through them.

Our pastor said last week, “A leader values others and empowers them to do what they believe God has called them to do.” In looking at various resources on this topic, I noticed an article on steps to instill confidence in others about our own leadership abilities. But we want our students to gain their confidence in what God can and will to do as they step out in faith. Often we can think, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” or “By the time I set someone else up to do a task, I could have done it easier myself.” But we miss the developmental opportunities of involving others in the mission if we think that. Sure this can be messy, but they gain confidence by the way you come along side them and their seeing God work.

Finally, here is a practical thing. Say you have tried to call someone a couple of times and you have not reached them. “Leave a gift, not a guilt.” It would be easy to say, “Hey I have been trying to reach you and haven’t heard from you. Please give me a call sometime.” But, rather, “I have been thinking about you and prayed for you today. Hope you are doing well. Say, I wanted to let you know about this resource/idea/event. I hope you will find helpful.” You are leaving a gift rather than a reminder that they have not done something. If you do that every time, they will look forward to hearing from you. That instills confidence.

Mobilizing Internationals for Spiritual Leadership March 10, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Leadership.
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Zeke Zeiler spent over 30 years with Student Venture. He has vast experience in training and movement development. Last year he joined Bridges International. I saw him recently and asked about how he was adapting his SV experience to Bridges. We talked about some of his recent projects. Here is one.

How Can We Mobilize Internationals for Spiritual Leadership?

Samuel leads a ministry for internationals at a large university. He does a great job. But if you observe him closely, you will see one odd, little inconsistency. When he’s involved in raising funds or recruiting co-laborers, Samuel always underlines the importance of Christian ministry to “future world leaders.” Yet when he needs additional leadership help, he’s hesitant to ask an international.

[So here is the question: “If International Students on our campuses are future world leaders, how do we involve them in our ministries today?”] Many of us need to think about that kind of question. We can’t afford to overlook the most strategic type of leaders for international student ministry—international students!

Here are some tips to help all of us mobilize internationals as leaders:

  • At first, new arrivals from overseas may appear to lack confidence. But don’t misinterpret a temporary homesickness or insecurity as a lack of leadership potential. Watch your students in various situations, including interactions with their countrymen.
  • There is a big difference between saying we want a student-led ministry and making the changes to create one. In some cases, we may need to step back slightly so that others can step forward.
  • Internationals rarely promote themselves for positions of leadership in a local ministry—especially if Americans are involved. Most international students come from cultures that value humility, so they will wait to be invited into leadership roles instead of taking the initiative to volunteer.
  • Mobilizing leaders means much more than simply giving over a responsibility. We must maintain a coaching relationship with developing leaders over time—offering encouragement and training as long as it is needed and wanted.
  • International students, like others, will occasionally fail in particular roles. Remember that the failures of young leaders create opportunities for their spiritual growth—if older leaders communicate grace, unconditional love, encouragement and correction to them.
  • Realize that that the first few years of a person’s Christian life tend to form the pattern for the future. If we want our international friends to become spiritual leaders in their homelands, we need to let them begin to lead while they are still with us.

Zeke raises lots of issues such as what it means to lead, how to delegate responsibility and how to distribute ownership beyond just involving International Students in leadership. I am often reminded how leadership is not what we do, but what others do as a result of what we do. Here are some other resources on leadership:

Launching on PELT Day March 3, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Coaching, Evangelism, Launching, Prayer.
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I am copied on emails that Neil Downey sends out to the student leaders on the Sioux Empire campuses. Here is one he sent recently. Neil told me they went to campuses where they had one or two students already aligned. It was meant to help give each campus a strong launch.

This week our staff team embarked on our first ever PELT day. For those of you dying to know about the new Acronym we made up, PELT stands for Prayer, Evangelism, Launching and Teamwork. On Wednesday morning (when it was very cold and very dark) our team split up into two groups to spend a day giving lift to a couple of fledgling movements on outlying Sioux Empire campuses. Team Luke traveled to Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown, while Team Matthew made the long drive to Northern State University in Aberdeen. FYI, these teams were named after our two interns, not after the corresponding Gospels.

While I can only speak for myself, I would venture to say that all my fellow staff learned a thing or two as we experienced being part of a Missional Team – a group of people focused on seeing God raise up a Spiritual Movement – so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Jesus.

Here’s what I learned:

  1. Even “professional Christians” fail – I attempted to initiate conversations with a lot of people, with varying degrees of responsiveness. But I wasn’t frustrated with people giving me the cold shoulder as much as I was by my own fear. On several occasions, I had a chance to strike up a conversation with somebody, but rationalized why it wasn’t a good idea (He looks busy, he doesn’t look interested, he’s eating, he might punch me, etc…) My own apprehension drove me to seek the Lord and the power of his Spirit to enable me to talk to people about the gospel. And that was a good thing. Moving from fear to faith to action is a tough but rewarding progression.
  2. It’s a small world – as soon as we set up our information table in the lobby of the Student Center, a Korean student approached us and said “You’re CCC?!? I was in CCC in Korea! I’ve been waiting for you to come here!” In addition to lots of Koreans, we encountered students from other nations and cultures (like Wyoming). The nations are here! And when students from around the world return home, I would love it if they’d take the gospel with them!
  3. God is at work – Yes, God is drawing people to himself, even on the frozen tundra of South Dakota. As we prayed for the campus, cast vision to Christian students, shared the gospel with nonbelievers and took steps toward seeing new movements launched, we couldn’t help but wonder how God would use people who truly follow him to bring himself glory. Time will tell.

As you think about what God has called you to do, I hope you realize that we are all Apostles (sent ones) – sent by the King to help build his kingdom. It took a road trip to remind me of this. But you don’t have to drive hundreds of miles in order to be sent somewhere. Maybe God is sending you across the hallway.

Remember that you too are a part of a Missional team. Campus Crusade is not a social club. We don’t exist for comfort, but for Mission. And we get to experience the mission together.

Neil told me after, “Now the real work begins. There were a bunch of students who indicated some level of interest – either in joining a bible study or just talking to people about a relationship with God. If we’re going to see any lasting fruit come from this trip, we (staff and student-leaders) need to be intentional about contacting all these people in a timely fashion.” Rick Pridey agrees saying “any intentional launching strategy needs a more intentional… coaching strategy to try and move things toward sustainability.”